


I'll Close My Eyes and Dream of Days When I Wasn't All Alone (Reupload)

by neverreallythere (orphan_account)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Accidents, Angst with a Happy Ending, Big Brother Shiro (Voltron), Blood and Injury, Drowning, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Hypnotism, Insecure Keith (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) Whump, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Lance (Voltron) Whump, Loner Keith (Voltron), M/M, Merman Shiro, Mild Language, Self-Harm, Shedding, Shippy Gen, Siren Keith (Voltron), Surfer Lance (Voltron), Voice Kink, mermaid au, merman Keith, molting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2019-12-11
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:00:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21756433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/neverreallythere
Summary: Shiro always reminded Keith to be careful not to hurt humans. Keith listened but never really cared for humans until he met Lance. An unlikely friendship met an otherworldly fascination. But Keith could be forgetful and made a mistake that he couldn't take back.
Relationships: Keith & Lance & Shiro (Voltron), Keith & Shiro (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 167





	I'll Close My Eyes and Dream of Days When I Wasn't All Alone (Reupload)

Keith was always afraid to get too close to other seafolk. After being orphaned he was too wary of abandonment to let others in. But Shiro took him under his fins and became like a big brother to him.

Shiro loved humans. He was particularly fond of a young male who swam at the surface of their waters often. This human was playful and active and had a huge family of his own. Keith was a little jealous of the human. Jealous of his fulfilled life and of Shiro's attention on him.

One day Shiro swam to Keith while the younger mer was picking at some seaweed in boredom.

"I know there weren't any humans where you used to live but... promise me you'll be careful around them, Keith. Remember that they can drown, and that they're more afraid of you than you are of them, and- "

"I've got it, Shiro, really. I don't have an appetite for humans."

Shiro sighed in relief. "Good. A lot of seafolk still believe in hunting them. But they're a lot like us. They even look like us.

Keith huffed and thought of the human with the blue eyes and tan skin. He almost wished that they looked like monsters so he wouldn't have to care.

~

The human was watching him.

Keith sat on a rock and combed a couple of shells out of his hair. The human was floating a few meters away on one of those flat pieces of debris they played with in the water. He spotted Keith and just stared, mouth agape.  
Shiro had explained to Keith that some humans had never heard of seafolk before, or heard of them and thought that they were only legends. Shiro's favorite human was all looks and no brains because he was obviously having his mind blown by seeing Keith perched on his rock.

"What, did Shiro never introduce himself to you? You've got a stalker then, human" Keith chuckled. The human didn't say a word but smiled with a strange look in his eyes, pleased by Keith's voice.

Keith finished grooming himself and grew bored of the situation. He dove under the water and searched for Shiro.

"Hey, Shiro. I met your little human crush today."

"You saw Lance? That's awesome! And he's not a crush, by the way. He's just about your age in sea years."

"Oh, so you found a new little brother."

"Don't be ridiculous" Shiro said, ruffling Keith's hair.

"He looked like he's never seen a merman before. Did you two never actually meet?"

"No, we hang out whenever he comes to the beach. Maybe he was just really impressed with what he saw."

Keith bit his lip. He never liked the way he looked. His black tail lacked any impressive colors. To think that this human saw something beautiful in him... it gave him mixed feelings.

"I guess. He made this big dopey smile when I talked to him, too."

Shiro froze.  
"Damn. How could I have forgotten?"

" ...Forgotten what?"  
"Speaking to humans could be dangerous to them, Keith. Sometimes they get sort of... entranced by our voices. You don't want to manipulate them like that, especially when they're out of their element."

"What? But you just said you spend time with Lance often!"

"My voice doesn't affect him that way. Usually it only happens when- uh, never mind."

"No, tell me."

" ...It usually only happens when you have a black tail."

Keith just swam away before he could take his frustration out on Shiro.  
~

Even though in the end the entire situation only made Keith more curious about Lance he knew he should keep his distance. It turned out that the effort was for nothing because Lance came to him.

Keith was in the middle of trapping small fish in shallow water when a human crashed under the surface next to him. It was Lance. He had probably fallen off of the thing he rides along the waves with again.

Before Keith could process anything Lance had spotted him. They just floated under the water, staring at each other. Examining each other. Lance couldn't take his eyes off of Keith's tail. It was making Keith anxious.

"And just what are you looking at? Don't you have some drowning to do?"

Lance's pupils blew wide and he smiled from ear to ear.

"Oh, crap." Keith had forgotten to keep his mouth shut.

The human swam right towards him and pulled on his ear fins.

"Ow! Knock it off!"

Lance gawked and ogled at every part of Keith, poking at his fins and gills and tail. The tail of was particular interest. Lance smoothed his hand over the reflective dark scales.

"You have no idea how weird this is, do you? Do humans just go up to random people and start fondling them?"

Lance just gurgled, covering his mouth. He kicked up to the surface for a breath of fresh air and seemed to get distracted by something on land and swam away.  
~

Keith slid himself across the jagged rocks of an underwater cliff, scratching at his molting skin and shedding scales. He sighed in relief and Shiro swam up to him.

"Enjoying yourself?"

"As if. I hate shedding."

"Who doesn't?" Shiro chuckled. "Hey, it's been a while since you and I tousled."

"You wanna go?"

"It'd probably help to get some of these scales off" Shiro explained, scratching at his own irritated white tale.

"You're on."

The two wrestled and tumbled, then started chasing after one another until Keith was caught and they rolled around, rubbing their scales against the rocks and corals.

Shiro had Keith in a headlock. "Ready to tap out?"

"Sure" Keith said, then whipped the back of Shiro's tail hard with his own. Shiro let out an undignified yelp and scrambled back.

"That little tail can really give a whopping, can't it?"

"Yep" Keith agreed.

Shiro yawned. "That tired me out."

"Getting too much for you, old man?"

"Watch it" Shiro chuckled. "I'm gonna nap in the cove. Hey, I saw Lance on the dock a little while ago and he told me he wants to see you."

"Really? It didn't go so well the last time. And you told me not to speak to him."

"Well, how about you do the listening and he does the talking?"  
~

"So, I'm sorry about touching you like that. It's just that when I hear your voice I can't speak myself and it's the most beautiful sound I've ever heard and I feel like I'm in a dream and I can't control myself. Wait, no, that's weird. I'm just not used to merpeople, okay? My sister Veronica told me about them but I never believed her. She never comes to the beach with me. I don't think you've seen her. She's not into surfing like me. And- "

Lance kept going on and on.

The human who had been silent to Keith up until this point had an amazing ability to run his mouth. Normally Keith would find such a thing annoying but it was okay that it was Lance. There was just something about this human. He had a lot of heart, which sounded like something Shiro would say. No wonder Shiro liked him.

" -that I'm talking so much and I haven't let you say anything. Hey, it's because of your voice, right? It's magic or something, isn't it?"

Keith snorted while he leaned up on the dock where Lance was sitting. Magic? Sure, if it was a curse.

"Well anyway thanks for coming to see me. I hope you, me, and Shiro can hang out together some time!"

Keith shrugged but smiled. Lance smiled back.  
~

Unsurprisingly Shiro was also enthusiastic about him, Keith, and Lance goofing off together. The mers could swim much faster than any human so Shiro invited Lance to hang onto his back while they soared through the water. When Lance needed to come up for air Shiro would breach the surface, leaping like a dolphin and making Lance whoop in excitement.

Keith kept up next to them, having more fun than he ever thought he would with a human. It was a struggle to keep himself quiet, though. Entrancing Lance with his voice would ruin their day.

Eventually the three popped their heads up above the surface.

"Hey, Keith. You want a turn? I mean... you mind if I hitch a ride? I bet you can swim even faster than Shiro!" Lance laughed.

Keith hesitated.

"You're damn right he can swim faster than me!" Shiro stated, elbowing a glaring Keith. 

But Keith nodded and before he knew it he was zipping through the waves with Lance holding on for dear life. Lance practically snuggled into Keith. It was more touch and attention received from anyone besides Shiro than Keith could remember and it was almost overwhelming.

When they leapt through the surface and Lance cheered Keith thought that he could definitely get used to this.  
~

"C'mon, Keith, I wanna hear your voice" Lance pouted as he sat on the dock with his feet in the water. Keith shook his head fiercely from the water. Nuh-uh. He had no idea what trouble they'd get in if he poisoned Lance with his voice.

"If it makes you feel better I think someone else's voice talking to me is what breaks it. That's what happened last time. This guy called Hunk, which is a funny name by the way, called me over and I forgot what I was just doing until I remembered it later."

Keith considered his proposition. He could show Lance his voice again so he'd stop nagging and before it went too far he could just get another human, or perhaps Shiro even, to talk some sense into him.

But if Shiro wasn't available Keith would really rather not reveal himself to another human. Not all humans were friendly. Maybe he could influence Lance to go talk to one himself? Keith sighed and pulled himself up on the dock next to Lance. He hoped they were far away enough from the shore for no one to notice his tail.

"Fine. You win. Well, here it is. Is it magical enough for you?" he deadpanned.

The effect was instantaneous. Lance's eyes dilated and he stared at Keith like he was admiring a rare masterpiece. 

"Careful or you'll start drooling" Keith joked, gently closing the humans slightly opened mouth. Lance leaned into the touch, closing his eyes and sighing.

"So what do we do? Shall I sing to you?" the mer asked sarcastically. Lance's eyes flew open and he nodded eagerly.

"Oh great" Keith grumbled. "I was joking. No way in hell I'm singing to you."

Lance looked crushed for a second before getting distracted by the spell that Keith had over him. He reached over and rested his hand on Keith's throat, over his adam's apple.

"What are you doing now?"

Lance hummed in satisfaction as he felt Keith's throat vibrate with his words. He started petting at the skin and Keith pushed Lance's hand away.

"Alright, getting too weird again. Besides, you're messing with my molt" Keith complained, looking down at Lance's hand where it had gathered a small bit of dead skin and scales.

He shouldn't have mentioned the molt because it only fascinated Lance who started brushing black scales from Keith's tail. The human marveled at the scales as if they were shiny, precious jewels.

"That does kinda feel good" Keith admitted. Lance grinned. He started scratching at Keith's back until Keith let out a moan of relief. It turned into a massage which turned into a hug which turned into them both tumbling off the dock and under the water.

Keith laughed and Lance looked like he was trying hard not to. They pushed at each other playfully, Lance trying to catch Keith's tail and Keith trying to grab Lance's foot to tickle it. He almost succeeded but was taken off guard when Lance started coughing up bubbles.

"Hey, go get some air if you need to!" Keith yelled. Lance swam up to the surface. Keith put his hands on his hips and shook his head.

"That's the only guy who needs to be reminded to breathe."

The mer waited for a few minutes and was starting to think that Lance got distracted by another human again until something pounced on him from behind.

"Came back for more, huh? You wanna go? I'll show you how we do it in my territory" Keith smirked, revealing some of his sharp teeth. It only encouraged Lance.

The two entwined together in a wrestle that looked more like a strange dance than play-fighting. It was made even more ridiculous by how Lance clung to Keith like a monkey in his entranced state.

Keith never had so much fun. He plotted how to shake Lance off. There was huge rock jutting out of the sand ahead. Keith could rub off some shed and win the game in one move.

Propelling himself forward at an impressive speed Keith slammed into the rock and twisted. He scraped himself against the rough surface and enjoyed the feeling of a good itch being scratched. 

He didn't hear the sickening crunch when the human hit the rock. But he saw the blood that bloomed in the water and heard the shocked scream of pain that sent bubbles into their faces.

"Lance!"

The mer couldn't believe what he was seeing. Lance had some serious bruising spreading out on his shouler. His right leg was twisted in a way that Keith knew it shouldn't be. There was blood surrounding them in the water, it kept coming and was impossible to tell where on Lance it was even coming from. They would attract sharks at this rate.

"No, no, come on Lance, I-I'll help you!"

Keith embraced Lance and raced to the surface, whispering "I'm sorry, I'm sorry".

When they breached the surface Keith was about to shout for someone to help but stopped himself. What if his voice entranced everyone? They'd all ignore Lance's injuries in favor of Keith's voice and then there would be no human around who wasn't affected to snap them out of it.

Keith decided to just drag Lance onto the sand, almost beaching himself in the process. Lance whimpered and tried to curl into a fetal position.

From there Keith could see where the blood was coming from. Lance's back had been skinned by the rock. The wounds made him ill. Keith had seen fish shredded into pieces, had done it to them himself, but this was _Lance._ And it was all his fault. What could he do?

Lance whimpered again and reached for Keith. Keith grabbed his hand and stroked his hair. He would do anything to take the pain away. Without thinking about it he started to sing. It was supposed to be a soothing hum but it was tainted with fear and guilt. Lance seemed to appreciate it anyway, relaxing and closing his eyes.

"No, don't close your eyes!" Keith begged. 

"Lance!?" a voice grew nearer.

Keith looked up to see a large human male running towards him and Lance. Was that Hunk? Unwilling to risk Lance's life on the chance that he'd entrance the other man too Keith sunk into the water and swam away. The large man's terrified voice faded.  
~

Keith could hear Shiro's warnings echoing in his ears. Be careful with the humans. Don't hurt them. They're fragile compared to us. 

How could Keith have forgotten?

Then Keith remembered the first time Shiro told him about the power his voice held. The curse his black tail bestowed upon him. "How could I have forgotten?" Shiro had asked no one.

It was strange how sometimes the most important things to remember were the easiest to forget.  
~

"Keith!" Shiro called.

It wasn't the first time Keith had run away. Or swam away, as it were. This time Keith had come to Shiro in shock and emotionlessly admitted that he'd hurt Lance bad and that he was sorry for not listening. Then he took off.

Shiro _was_ disappointed in Keith for not heeding his advice. And Lance was Shiro's friend too, so he was worried on Lance's behalf. But Keith, for all his aloof nature, would never hurt someone on purpose. Shiro needed to find him.

It took a long time but the white-tailed mer finally spotted his black-tailed little brother by a huge rock not far from the wooden dock. It _didn't_ take a long time to realize that he smelled blood. 

"Keith! Are you- " Shiro stopped in his tracks.

Keith sat on the ocean floor in front of the rock with his tail folded under him. The blood was blossoming from his back and covered the surface of the boulder behind him.

"Hey, you're bleeding. Let me take a look, okay?" Shiro spoke gently. Keith let Shiro turn him around. Shiro gasped.  
Keith's back was rubbed raw, like he was scratching his shedding skin against the rock and just kept doing it until he had no skin left.

"I did this to him. It was only fair for me to... " Keith whispered.

"Oh, Keith" Shiro said sadly. "What _happened?_ "

Keith recounted everything, starting with Lance asking him to use his voice and ending with another human finding Lance gravely injured on the beach.

"I know you feel like you need to punish yourself but believe me, that's not going to help anything" Shiro said. "Of course you should have been more careful, and you probably shouldn't have let Lance talk you into entrancing him, but you know you didn't hurt him on purpose. And do you think scraping yourself open is going to make Lance better?"

"What does it matter? He's probably dead."

"Humans may be weaker than us, Keith, but they can be surprisingly resilient when they need to. I doubt your rough-housing was enough to do him in."

Keith just shook his head. Shiro put his hand on the younger mer's shoulder.

"It was an accident. If you're sorry and you want to make things right then you need to tell Lance that when he comes back."  
~

Lance didn't come back.

Keith was sure it was because Lance hated him but Shiro assured him that humans take quite a while to heal and it may have just been that he wasn't ready to swim yet.

So they waited weeks. Then they waited months. Shiro kept refusing Keith's insistence that Lance was killed from the accident.

When it was coming up to a year with no sign of Lance Keith had already been trying to force himself to just forget about the human. Or any humans. He never attempted befriending another.

Before he knew it Keith was starting his yearly molt again. It was even worse now because not only was it unbearably uncomfortable it also reminded him of the year before. No amount of scratching seemed to help his shedding. Or his guilt.

Desperate for relief Keith found the sharpest, most jagged underwater cliffside he could to try and dislodge some of the stubborn scales. He kneaded his body against it and sighed as it peeled away the shed and gave him a deep tissue massage in the process. He was so lost in it that he neglected to notice how unstable the cliffside was.

With one particularly hard shove against a rock he triggered an avalanche.

Being buried in rubble, Keith discovered, was more painful than scraping the skin off of his own back.

"S-Shiro" Keith groaned. He could hardly breathe under the pressure.

"Help" he croaked, not able to make the rocks budge at all. He tried to flick the rubble off of his tail but only succeeded in straining the end of the appendage.

"Shiro!" Keith tried again. "Anybody! Please!"  
He was met with silence.

"Lance" Keith whispered.

Silence.

"Lance!"

A splash.

Keith ignored the sound and closed his eyes. When he opened them again a pair of familiar glassy, dilated blue ones stared back.

"Tell me I'm not dreaming" Keith said. Lance smiled and touched Keith's face.

"Or hallucinating" Keith added. Lance kissed the top of Keith's head.

"Guess I d-deserve this after what I d-did to you, huh?" Keith coughed. Lance frowned. He started trying to get the rocks off of Keith. He managed to get a few small ones off by himself but the mer was still pinned.

"I'm so glad you're better, Lance. I thought I'd killed you. For what it's worth I'm sorry for being careless."

Lance held the only hand Keith had free from the rubble for a moment before he went back to attempting to pry away the heavy rocks. Keith couldn't see him but heard bubbles and sounds of exertion.

"Don't stay down here too long, Lance."

Lance just kept pushing against the rocks until he had no choice but to give up. He came around the front of Keith and held his hand again. They stayed like that until the human spit up more bubbles and looked a little purple in the face.

"Enough! G-go back to the surface already. My life isn't worth yours."

When Lance stayed put Keith realized that he really wasn't going to leave. It made his blood run cold and he became desperate again, screaming for Shiro. He knew the white-tailed mer couldn't be too far away.

By the time Shiro finally found them neither of them had much time left.

"Keith! Wait- Lance?!"

"S-Shiro!" Keith cried.

"It's okay, Keith. I'll get you out" Shiro reassured, starting to push the rocks.

"No! Lance is really entranced! H-he's gonna drown himself for me! Snap him out of it!"

Shiro paused and stared at Lance. He looked bad, like he was going to pass out any second.

"Lance, listen to me, you have to go to the surface and get air. I'm here with Keith- I'll take care of him!" Shiro urged.

Lance looked confused. He gripped Keith's wrist tighter.

Shiro shook Lance's shoulders. "Hey! Get a grip! Go!"

Lance didn't get a chance to. He'd already fainted while Shiro was shaking him.

"Shiro, t-take him up. Please."

"I can't leave you behind, Keith. I've gotta get this off of you- "

" _Please,_ Shiro" Keith rasped, barely awake himself.

Shiro wasted seconds they didn't have thinking about it. It wasn't fair to have to choose between Lance and Keith. But when Keith _begged_... 

"I'll be right back! Hang in there!" 

And Keith was alone.  
~

"Keith! Don't close your eyes!"

Keith was shaken awake by Shiro. He felt like he was numb and in terrible pain at the same time. His vision was fuzzy.

"And don't make a sound. You'll entrance him again."

He could feel the pressure on his back lightening.

"No, you pull and I'll push."

Keith twitched his tail. The action ached but nothing was holding it down anymore.

"Last one!"

And he was free.

Shiro rolled the younger mer onto his side and put his head in his white lap. "You're okay, you're okay. We've got you."

Keith felt a hand smaller than one of Shiro's squeeze his. But this time it felt lucid, and grounding. The other smaller hand carded through his black hair and it felt genuine and sympathetic. Keith had a fleeting thought that he didn't deserve it but it was soon washed away.  
~

"So I guess it's safe to say that you and rocks have an awful relationship. You really need to stay away from those" Lance warned. Keith sighed from where he floated in the water and hoped that the simple noise wasn't enough to cause another catastrophe.

"By the way, blame my family for keeping me from checking in with you guys at the beach for so long. Even after I healed up most of them never wanted me to go surfing ever again. If only they knew an itchy fish boy was the reason I got banged up."

Keith splashed Lance. 

"Hey, it's not an insult! Have you ever seen a human peel sunburn off of themselves? I bet that's a lot like molting. So I get it."

The mer pulled himself onto the dock and absentmindedly scratched behind an ear fin. Lance reached over hesitantly and hovered a hand over the other ear fin. Keith stared expectantly. Lance scratched behind the fin and the end of Keith's tail wagged not unlike a dog. Lance chuckled and Keith blushed.

"Um. Can I... give you a hug?" Lance asked.

Keith blinked.

"I mean, we just both probably need a hug right about now. No pressure. It's- "

The mer embraced Lance. They both relished the hug and rubbed each other's backs.

"You smell kind of like a can of tuna."

Keith shoved Lance off.

"What's up?" a voice suddenly asked.

The mer and the human both almost jumped a foot in the air, Lance yelping and Keith slapping a hand over his own mouth to avoid using his cursed voice.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you" Shiro said. Keith and Lance peered at him in the water.

"I heard 'hug' and couldn't resist" Shiro explained.

Lance opened his arms and Shiro flopped onto the dock and pulled the human and the other mer into a big group hug.

"Hey, Lance, I was looking for you!" Hunk jogged to the edge of the dock. "What the hell?!" he exclaimed after spotted the mermen cuddling his friend.

Shiro squeaked and fell into the water, dragging Lance and Keith with him.


End file.
